The 12,400-year-old PUPPY frozen in time: Samples from the mummified dog could help clone the extinct species

The 12,400-year-old PUPPY frozen in time: Samples from the mummified dog could help clone the extinct species

Remains were found near River Syalakh in Russia's Sakha Republic Yakutia . The puppy, including its brain, was found to be well preserved Experts are now examining whether the young animal was a 'pet' Controversial cloning guru Hwang Woo-suk has taken samples in a bid to bring the extinct species back to life

Puppy frozen in time for 12,400 years is thawed by scientists in remarkable footage

The degree of preservation is said to be around 70 to 80 per cent, although the experts will be able to be more specific after the animal is fully extracted. Although it has dried out, both the parencephalon, cerebellum and pituitary gland are visible. In this image, the dog's teeth are exposed

'The degree of preservation is about 70 to 80 per cent. 'We will be able to say more precisely after it is extracted. For now we can see it on MRI scans.Of course, it has dried out somewhat, but the both parencephalon, cerebellum and pituitary gland are visible.'We can say that this is the first time we have obtained the brain of a Pleistocene canid.'It is the first intact brain of a predator from this era, he said.A suspected sibling of this puppy was pulled from the same location near the village of Tumat four years earlier - in 2011 - dubbed Tumat Dog.Experts believe the creatures could be from the same litter and probably died in a landslide or burrow collapse in the Ust-Yansky district of northern Russia's Sakha Republic.
Scientists spent four years studying and DNA-testing the remains, which were kept in a freezer, and it was in April that a post-mortem on the original dog was eventually carried out. The body was found in Tumat village by villagers Yuri and Igor Gorokhov and Ayaan Tomsk who donated it to the mammoth museum. Sergey Fedorov, the head of the exhibition department of the Museum of the Mammoth, said: 'The remains were brought to Yakutsk for our museu

'The dimensions of the discoveries in 2011 and 2015 and their location in Tumat village indicate that both puppies may belong to the same litter. 'They were found two metres away from each other.This puppy is better preserved than the previous one, so we hope to get more new information.'Cloning specialist Professor Hwang Woo-suk said he was 'satisfied with the degree of preservation' on the more recent discovery and said he was 'very excited'.
He took the samples from the skin, muscles and ear cartilage.

The South Korean is also working on bringing the extinct woolly mammoth back to life. 'Later we will compare them with the bacteria from the puppy's intestines. We hope to find ancient bacteria among them,' the cloning specialist said.
A search is underway for 'parasites - ticks, fleas' on the prehistoric dog.Examination of the earlier puppy found at the site suggests it was a dog rather than a wolf.Likely human remains were also found at the site indicating that the puppies were pets or would-be working dogs of early man.